Simone Elkeles - [Perfect Chemistry 03] Page 15

  “I don’t want my girlfriend flunkin’ math and havin’ to take it over in summer school. Focus,” he tells me.

  “Okay, okay.” I put my pencil on the paper, ready to work. “I’m focused.”

  We work until there’s a minute before the bell rings. All I know is that Luis has the patience of a saint. He was able to explain stuff to me at my level, instead of Mr. Gasper’s way, which is way too confusing.

  “Thanks,” I say as I slip the sheet into my folder.

  “Sit with me at lunch today,” he says.

  “With your friends?”

  “Yeah.” He laces his fingers through mine.

  “I don’t really get along with them. They hate me.”

  “It’ll be fine, I promise.”

  Kendall and Derek come walking down the hallway. “I guess you two worked it out last night, huh?” Kendall says.

  I squeeze Luis’s hand. “Yep.”

  Luis and I part when the bell rings. I know I’m not going to see him until lunch, but I do see Marco. He’s in my gym class. I usually ignore him and he ignores me.

  Today I’m not so lucky.

  “So you’ve finally found another guy to obsess over?” Marco asks as we run around the track surrounding the football field.

  I run faster, but he keeps up with me. Mr. Harris, our gym teacher, is holding a stopwatch. “Keep up the good pace,” he calls out as we pass him.

  “This thing with you and Luis won’t last, you know,” Marco says. He stops talking as a couple of runners pass us. “When he dumps you, are you gonna make him feel like dirt and turn everyone on the north side against him, like you did to me?”

  I didn’t turn anyone against Marco. We broke up at the same time that he joined the Latino Blood. Coming to school with gang tattoos didn’t really help his popularity with the people I hang out with. I know almost everyone on the north side ignored Marco after we broke up. I just don’t think it had anything to do with the breakup and everything to do with him flaunting his gang affiliation.

  I keep running and ignore every word that comes out of Marco’s mouth. I wish I had headphones in my ears to block him out completely.

  “If you tell Luis what I said, I’ll pass around that naked picture I took of you on my cell.” He leans in close. “When I told you I deleted it, I lied.”

  Tears threaten to sting my eyes, but I hold them back. When gym is over, I rush to the locker room and pray that Marco is bluffing.

  At lunch, I spot Luis in the hall just as we’re both entering the cafeteria.

  “Hey,” he says.

  “Hey. I’m eating lunch in the library,” I tell him. “I’ve got to study, and I can’t do it when everyone is around. I’ll see you in chemistry, okay?” I need to get away from Marco and his threats.

  He starts to follow me. “I’ll go with you to the library.”

  “No. You’re the biggest distraction for me right now. I need to focus.”

  “Seriously?” Luis asks, unconvinced.

  “Seriously.” I kiss him, loving the feeling of his warm lips on mine that make me forget Marco’s threat for the moment. Being with Luis makes me believe everything will be okay in the end.

  “Hey, you two. No PDA,” a teacher calls out. Oh, no. It’s Mrs. Peterson. She taps us on our shoulders. “Break it up.”

  Mrs. Peterson waits for us to part, then crosses her arms. “Nikki, I’m going to have Dr. Aguirre send you home with another Fairfield High student handbook. You obviously haven’t memorized the rules. If you’d like to stay after school and go over them together, I can help you.” She raises an eyebrow at Luis. “That goes for you, too, Mr. Fuentes.”

  “Haven’t you ever broken the rules, Mrs. P.?” Luis asks her.

  “No,” she retorts, but then thinks about it more. “Well, there was this one time in high school …” Her voice trails off. “Never mind. I don’t want to catch you two kissing in the hallway again. I didn’t make up the rule, but I have to enforce it.”

  Shocker. Mrs. Peterson just admitted to being a rule breaker herself. And maybe she even disagrees with some of the rules. Luis looks pretty pleased with himself that he got her to admit it.

  “I’ll see you later,” I call out as I head to the library. “Go eat with your friends.”

  I sit in one of the private study carrels and pull out my lunch and a book from the fiction section that I just picked off the shelves. I don’t really have to study. I just don’t know how to tell Luis that I can’t hang out with his friends.

  29

  Luis

  In chemistry, Peterson watches us like a hawk. Damn, that woman might not have made up the rules, but she sure does get off on enforcing ’em. Today Peterson is lecturing the entire class. I glance at Nikki and find her looking right at me. She smiles. I’m the luckiest dude on earth. I’m gonna hate leaving her after practice today.

  The bell finally rings. Nikki and I walk to our lockers together.

  “I’ll meet you on the field,” I tell her, then pull her close.

  She pushes me away. “You heard what Mrs. Peterson said. No PDA in the halls.”

  “She’s not lookin’. Besides, school’s over.”

  She shakes her finger at me. “You’re living on the edge, Mr. Fuentes,” she says, imitating Mrs. P. “Promise me you won’t get another detention.”

  “I can’t do that, mi chava.”

  In the locker room, Dougan comes up to me as I put my soccer jersey on.

  “Nobody likes the idea of you and Nikki together,” he says. “Well, besides Kendall and Derek.”

  “I don’t really give a shit what anyone thinks,” I tell him.

  I sit down on the bench and get my cleats on, hoping Dougan will just disappear.

  He doesn’t.

  He sits next to me. “You know her parents are gonna have a fit when they find out she’s dating a dude in the LB. I know you’re one of them … no need to deny it. Just so you know, I’ll be there to comfort Nikki when she realizes you’re just another Mexican scumbag.”

  I finish fastening one cleat and put on the other. I don’t want anyone, especially Dougan, interfering with my relationship with Nikki. I know Alex and Brittany had similar issues. All of their friends tried to warn them their relationship would end up in disaster, but in the end it didn’t matter what anyone else thought. That’s how I want it to be with me and Nik—the two of us figuring this out without interference from anyone else.

  “You don’t know shit, Dougan.”

  “I know more than you think.”

  I finish tying my cleats and scan the area to make sure we’re alone. “Yo, Dougan. If you tell Nikki anythin’, I swear the LB will be all over your ass.” Without waiting for him to respond I head to the field, where the coach is having the team do laps for warm-up. Nikki is sitting in the stands with Kendall, watching us, with a bunch of other girls.

  Marco jogs beside me. “What’s up, Fuentes?” He nods toward the bleachers. “I see you got a fan.”

  “If you have an opinion about my girlfriend, keep it to yourself,” I tell him. “Seriously, stop givin’ her shit or you’ll have to answer to me.”

  “What are you, her bodyguard or boyfriend?” he jokes.

  “Both.” I glance at the bleachers. Nikki doesn’t look too happy that I’m talking to Marco.

  “I think it’s entertainin’ that you and Nikki have a little thing goin’ on,” Marco says, then pats my back. “Good luck with that, bro … while it lasts.”

  He sprints to the side of the field to talk to the coach before I can say anything back.

  Derek is a midfielder who can kick the ball farther and more accurately than I’ve ever seen. Marco and I are forwards, and we read the game as if we’re of one mind. Instinctively we know what to expect from each other, and what we’re both thinking.

  The only distraction I have is Nikki. Each time the ball goes out of bounds, I find myself looking for her in the stands.

  “Fuentes, what are
you doin’?” Coach yells. “Sal just threw the ball inbounds to you and you were staring off into La-La Land.”

  “Sorry, Coach,” I say.

  “Get off my field until your head is back in the game,” he yells, then motions for another player to replace me.

  I jog off the field and stop at the water station. I squirt water in my mouth, then douse my head to cool me off.

  “I’m distracting you, aren’t I?” Nikki asks.

  I turn around and see her leaning on the chain-link fence. The sun is shining on her dark hair, showing off hints of natural red highlights.

  Is she distracting me? Hell, yeah. “I missed that ball ’cause I was lookin’ for you.”

  “Don’t do that,” she says. “Do you want me to leave? It’s not a big deal. I don’t want to piss off your coach.”

  I wink at her. “You know I don’t want you to leave.”

  “Nikki Cruz, stop distracting my player, or I’ll make this a closed practice and kick you out!” Coach yells.

  “Go make a goal to appease the poor man,” she tells me.

  “Will do.”

  The rest of the practice I keep myself focused on the drills and not on Nikki. After practice, Marco and I are talking about strategy as we walk out of the locker room. Nikki is waiting for me in the hallway.

  “Hey,” she says.

  “Hey.” I pat Marco on the back. “I’ll meet you at your car.”

  He sighs. “All right. But don’t take long. We need to bounce, bro.”

  I put my arms around Nikki and bend my head down to kiss her, but she pulls back. “You have plans with Marco?”

  “Yeah.” I shrug. “He wants me to help him out with somethin’.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because I didn’t want you to know, all right? Listen, you’ve got issues with the guy and I didn’t want to piss you off. I’ll come over right after, I swear.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to question you.” She pulls my head down and kisses me. “I have trust issues.”

  “I know. I’m on a mission to cure you of that.”

  I put my arm around her and we walk to the parking lot. Marco is waiting out front in his car. He beeps when he sees me. “Come on, pendejo!” he yells impatiently out the window.

  “I’ll see ya later,” I say to Nikki, then kiss her again before sliding into Marco’s car.

  A few minutes after we drive off, Marco motions to his glove compartment. “Open it.”

  When I do, five little packets of white powder packed in blue cellophane stare back at me.

  “Chuy wants us to unload this shit for seventy-five dollars a pop. We get to keep twenty-five.”

  I slam the compartment shut. “Dude, that’s yeyo. You know, that stuff I almost got busted for over the weekend.”

  “Tell me somethin’ I don’t know. Here,” he says, pulling out a sheet of paper with an address scribbled on it: 2416 Newberry Drive. Evanston. “Chuy said we could unload it by sellin’ it to this culero.”

  We drive on Sheridan Road through Fairfield, winding down the tree-lined curvy road until we reach Evanston. I’m silent the entire time, looking out the window at pedestrians and wondering what they think of us. Do they see two Mexicans in a car and immediately think we’re drug dealers? Today they’d be spot on. It’s not a big shipment that could put us in jail for ten years, but it’s enough to get us arrested.

  Chuy’s threat runs through my head. You’re either with us or against us. You want to keep your family safe, don’t you?

  Yeah, I want to keep my family safe. I have to do this for my brothers, my nephew, my sister-in-law, and mi'amá. Doing drug deals for the LB is an obligation as much as it is a way to find out insider info. I’m pretty sure Alex did it, I know Carlos did it … now it’s my turn.

  It’s still light out, so it’s not hard to find the address. We arrive at the house. “This place is a dump,” I say, staring at the random pieces of scrap metal and wooden skids piled up in the yard.

  “I’ll wait in the car,” Marco says.

  I shove the five packets in my pockets. I’ve never done anything like this before and feel like a complete poser. “Why don’t you do it?” I ask Marco. “You’re the veteran.”

  “Chuy told me to make you do it. Somethin’ about you provin’ yourself.” He checks his rearview mirror. “Look, I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy is one of Chuy’s buddies checkin’ up to make sure you’re gonna follow through.”

  Shit. “You got my back?”

  “Yeah … Yeah, I got your back.” Marco is acting all cool, as if he’s done this a thousand times and it’s not a big deal. “Go on already. Stop stallin’.”

  I reach into the small duffel I stashed in Marco’s car this morning before school and pull out the Glock. I shove it into my waistband, then walk to the front door. On it is a sticker that says NO SOLICITING. I’m about to sell drugs. Is that soliciting? I could probably do a kick-ass essay on the topic, making an argument for and against it.

  Okay, I am stalling. You can do this, I tell myself as my heart is pumping hard and fast. I ring the doorbell and hear footsteps as someone comes to the door. It opens. A guy with a shaved head that resembles a cage fighter I once saw on TV is standing in front of me. I’m gonna guess he hasn’t showered in a week, because he smells like shit.

  “Who the hell are you?” the guys asks.

  Umm … what do I say? It’s not easy thinking this stuff up on the fly. “Umm … I think I got stuff that you want.”

  I sound like an idiot.

  “What kind of stuff?” the guys asks, unfazed at how stupid this conversation sounds.

  I start to pull one of the packets out of my pocket when the guy grabs my shirt and pulls me into his house.

  “Don’t ever do that again, you hear. Pigs drive around these parts lookin’ to bust guys like you. He sees you flashin’ coke and you and I will both be arrested. All right …” He sniffs a few times and his hands are shaking in anticipation. “Show me what you got.”

  I pull out the five packets. “Seventy-five dollars each. Three seventy-five for all five.” I was always good in math.

  “How about three fifty?” he counters.

  Seriously, are you even allowed to counteroffer on a drug deal? He obviously thinks I’m a rookie. I am, but if Chuy is monitoring this, I better not back down. If I don’t do this, my loyalty will be questioned.

  “What the fuck do you think I am, a wholesaler?” I say in a pissed-off tone, slipping into the tough gang member role easily. “Three seventy-five or I’m out.” Listen, as long as I’m here, and risking it all, I might as well get the full amount. “I’ve got ten more guys who’ll give me four bills for shit this pure. Either you take it, or they will.”

  I took AP economics—the supply and demand model is powerful stuff. If this dude thinks the supply is low and demand is high, chances are he’ll play the game my way.

  He hesitates for a split second. I take my chances and go for the bluff, heading for the door.

  “Okay, fine!” he calls out. “I’ll be right back with the money. Just … just wait right there.”

  I hold the packets in one hand and reach around for the Glock with my other. If this guy is about to shoot me, I better be ready to fire back or get the hell out.

  Shit, what have I turned into? A gangbanging drug dealer getting off on being a badass. How easy it’s been for me to do a complete 180. The only thing keeping me here is the fact that if I don’t, I won’t know what Chuy has up his sleeve. It’s something that involves me. I know that for sure. I can’t go to the cops. Chuy’s got eyes and ears all over the streets, and even hinted that he’s got some of the cops in Fairfield on his payroll. For the first time in my life, I can’t do the right thing.

  The thought that this pendejo about to buy drugs from me can be an undercover cop enters my mind, but the way he looked longingly at the yeyo and started sniffing over the prospect of havin’ the stuff within reac
h makes me forget that thought.

  The guy comes back in the room with a bunch of bills in his hand. “Here,” he says, shoving the money at me.

  Do I count it now, before I leave, or is that considered a dis? I don’t know the protocol here so I’m making this shit up as I go along. I briefly glance down at the money, then hand over the yeyo.

  As I walk back to the car my heart is still pounding. This adrenaline rush gives me a natural high that makes me feel invincible, like I felt when I free solo’d it back in Boulder. The chance I’ll get bitten by a snake here is rare, but lying to Nikki and my family could have worse consequences.

  “Let’s get out of here,” I tell Marco as I slide into the passenger seat.

  I get a text as we speed away from the house.

  Nikki: Hey. what u up to?

  I don’t answer.

  30

  Nikki

  I tell Luis to meet me at the animal shelter. When he pulls up on a motorcycle, I do a double take. He pulls off the helmet and walks over to me.

  “Is that your motorcycle?” I ask him.

  “It’s my cousin Enrique’s. He let me borrow it. He said I could work at his auto body shop a few days a week since he knows I lost my job at Brickstone and business has started to pick up.” He puts his arms around me and holds me for a long time. “I missed you, even if you do smell like wet dog.”

  “I gave Granny a bath.”

  “Granny?”

  “She’s my favorite dog here. You want to meet her?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Come on.” After introducing him to the staff, I take him back to Granny’s cage. “Isn’t she adorable?” I ask as I bend down and pick her up. “She’s blind, but she can hear you perfectly.”

  Luis takes her from me. “Yo, Granny, what’s up?” She nuzzles her nose into his shirt as he pets her. “You want to take her home, don’t you?” he asks me.

  “How did you know?”

  “By the way you look at her.”

  “My parents don’t want me to get a dog, but I’m working on them. I think they’ll cave soon. I even had them come meet her.” I look off into the distance. “I think they’re afraid I’ll freak out when she dies.”